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YEREVAN PRESS CLUB WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
MARCH 6-12, 2009
HIGHLIGHTS:
"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY
REPORT OF THE RA HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER FOR 2008 RELEASED
"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY
On March 7, another "Press Club" show went on the air of "Yerkir Media" TV
company. The cycle is produced under Yerevan Press Club project, supported
by the Open Society Institute Human Rights and Governance Grants Program.
The guests of the host, YPC President Boris Navasardian were Artak Davtian,
deputy of the RA National Assembly of Republican Party of Armenia, member of
RA NA Standing Commission on State and Legal Issues, and Artak Zeinalian,
member of Political Council of "Republic" party, Armenian National Congress
representative. The discussion centered on the freedom of assembly, in the
context of the opposition rallies, resumed on March 1, and Armenia's
international commitments.
The next "Press Club" show will be aired on "Yerkir Media" on Saturday,
March 14, at 17.40.
REPORT OF THE RA HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER FOR 2008 RELEASED
On March 10 the Annual Report of the RA Human Rights Defender Armen
Harutiunian on the Activities of the Defender and the Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms Violations in Armenia in 2008 was presented at the
Congress Hotel in Yerevan.
Talking about different aspects of his activities, particularly, in the
sphere of information and public relations, the ombudsman emphasized that
the cooperation with media in whole is succeeded. At the same time, in the
opinion of Armen Harutiunian, the media does not always reflect adequately
the points of view expressed by him. Touching upon the information sphere,
the ombudsman noted the one-sided news coverage by the Public Television of
Armenia, as one of the unsolved problems to this very day. For example he
brought his extraordinary public report "On Presidential Elections of
February 19, 2008 and the Post-Election Situation", released on April 25,
2008, which "was not even mentioned" on the air of the public broadcaster.
However, a month later, when objections to the report where raised by the RA
General Prosecutor's Office and the RA Ministry of Justice, they were
covered "several times" by the Public Television, "with comments of
different officials of the abovementioned bodies".
One of the sub-sections of the annual report refers to the right of freedom
of information. In the opinion of Armen Harutiunian, there are serious
problems with realizing that right. "In fact, there is a lack of pluralism
on TV, as for the print media, it is often transformed to insult, giving
raise to an improper and inacceptable culture for our society", the
ombudsman stresses, in particular. Like in the report of 2007, Armen
Harutiunian once again pays attention to the absence of appropriate sublegal
acts, ensuring the procedure of the application of the RA Law "On Freedom of
Information". Thus, point 1 of article 10 of the Law sets forth that
providing information or duplicates (copies) of documents by state
institutions and organizations, local self-administration bodies is
implemented according to the procedure defined by the RA Government.
Nevertheless, to present day this procedure has not been defined. Besides,
according to point 4 of article 11 of the Law, the rejection to provide
information can be appealed to authorized state body or to the court.
However, so far there is not a proper body, the report notes.
The amendments to the RA Law "On Television and Radio", adopted on September
10, 2008 and suspending the broadcast licensing competitions until July
2010, were considered by the ombudsman as "regressive and explicitly
contradictory" to the European Court of Human Rights ruling of June 17, 2008
on the case of "A1+" TV company.
Talking about the situation after the 2008 presidential elections, the
ombudsman thinks that the activities of a number of media have contributed
to the escalation of the tension in the society: "A most vivid example of
such unacceptable coverage was demonstrated by the First Channel of the
Public Television of Armenia, which not only neglected the President's
Decree on State of Emergency, but also made an infringement of the
requirement of Article 28 of the RA Law "On Television and Radio",
prohibiting the prevalence of a political stance in the programs broadcast
on public television." The National Commission on Television and Radio,
which, in accordance to the Law, is the independent regulator and is to
implement the control over the activities of the broadcasters, Armen
Harutiunian's report stresses, failed to perform one of its main functions
and did not prevent the violations of the Decree provisions not only by the
PTA First Channel, but also most of the private broadcasters. At the same
time, the ombudsman says, in the second half of 2008 "some positive changes
and elements of pluralistic news coverage were observed in the activities of
the PTA First Channel".
The annual report of the Human Rights Defender touches upon the situation on
the "GALA" TV company of Gyumri. In particular, in the opinion of the
ombudsman, "it raises doubts the circumstance", that the tax violations made
by the founder of the TV company and other problems were revealed "only
after "GALA" manifested a critical stance towards the authorities".
The ombudsman notes that in 2008, like in the previous years, cases of
impeding professional activities of journalists have been fixed.
Nevertheless, a great number of such incidents remained unpunished. The
Human Rights Defender statements, listed in the report appendix, concern the
attacks on journalists, in particular: on correspondent of "Haykakan
Zhamanak" daily, Lusine Barseghian, on August 11; on acting head of the
Armenian Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Hrach Melkumian, on
August 18; on Chairman of "Investigative Journalists" NGO Edik Baghdasarian
on November 17.
At the presentation of ombudsman report for 2008 Armen Harutiunian awarded
diplomas for contribution to development of tolerance and freedom of speech
to Anna Israelian, the observer of "Aravot" daily, and Larisa Alaverdian,
the First RA Human Rights Defender, now RA National Assembly deputy of
"Heritage" party.
When reprinting or using the information above, reference to the Yerevan
Press Club is required.
You are welcome to send any comment and feedback about the Newsletter to:
[email protected]
Subscription for the Newsletter is free. To subscribe or unsubscribe from
this mailing list, please send a message to: [email protected]
Editor of YPC Newsletter - Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
_____________________________________ _______
Yerevan Press Club
9B, Ghazar Parpetsi str.
0002, Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+ 374 10) 53 00 67; 53 35 41; 53 76 62
Fax: (+374 10) 53 56 61
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: www.ypc.am
MARCH 6-12, 2009
HIGHLIGHTS:
"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY
REPORT OF THE RA HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER FOR 2008 RELEASED
"PRESS CLUB" CYCLE: FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY
On March 7, another "Press Club" show went on the air of "Yerkir Media" TV
company. The cycle is produced under Yerevan Press Club project, supported
by the Open Society Institute Human Rights and Governance Grants Program.
The guests of the host, YPC President Boris Navasardian were Artak Davtian,
deputy of the RA National Assembly of Republican Party of Armenia, member of
RA NA Standing Commission on State and Legal Issues, and Artak Zeinalian,
member of Political Council of "Republic" party, Armenian National Congress
representative. The discussion centered on the freedom of assembly, in the
context of the opposition rallies, resumed on March 1, and Armenia's
international commitments.
The next "Press Club" show will be aired on "Yerkir Media" on Saturday,
March 14, at 17.40.
REPORT OF THE RA HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER FOR 2008 RELEASED
On March 10 the Annual Report of the RA Human Rights Defender Armen
Harutiunian on the Activities of the Defender and the Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms Violations in Armenia in 2008 was presented at the
Congress Hotel in Yerevan.
Talking about different aspects of his activities, particularly, in the
sphere of information and public relations, the ombudsman emphasized that
the cooperation with media in whole is succeeded. At the same time, in the
opinion of Armen Harutiunian, the media does not always reflect adequately
the points of view expressed by him. Touching upon the information sphere,
the ombudsman noted the one-sided news coverage by the Public Television of
Armenia, as one of the unsolved problems to this very day. For example he
brought his extraordinary public report "On Presidential Elections of
February 19, 2008 and the Post-Election Situation", released on April 25,
2008, which "was not even mentioned" on the air of the public broadcaster.
However, a month later, when objections to the report where raised by the RA
General Prosecutor's Office and the RA Ministry of Justice, they were
covered "several times" by the Public Television, "with comments of
different officials of the abovementioned bodies".
One of the sub-sections of the annual report refers to the right of freedom
of information. In the opinion of Armen Harutiunian, there are serious
problems with realizing that right. "In fact, there is a lack of pluralism
on TV, as for the print media, it is often transformed to insult, giving
raise to an improper and inacceptable culture for our society", the
ombudsman stresses, in particular. Like in the report of 2007, Armen
Harutiunian once again pays attention to the absence of appropriate sublegal
acts, ensuring the procedure of the application of the RA Law "On Freedom of
Information". Thus, point 1 of article 10 of the Law sets forth that
providing information or duplicates (copies) of documents by state
institutions and organizations, local self-administration bodies is
implemented according to the procedure defined by the RA Government.
Nevertheless, to present day this procedure has not been defined. Besides,
according to point 4 of article 11 of the Law, the rejection to provide
information can be appealed to authorized state body or to the court.
However, so far there is not a proper body, the report notes.
The amendments to the RA Law "On Television and Radio", adopted on September
10, 2008 and suspending the broadcast licensing competitions until July
2010, were considered by the ombudsman as "regressive and explicitly
contradictory" to the European Court of Human Rights ruling of June 17, 2008
on the case of "A1+" TV company.
Talking about the situation after the 2008 presidential elections, the
ombudsman thinks that the activities of a number of media have contributed
to the escalation of the tension in the society: "A most vivid example of
such unacceptable coverage was demonstrated by the First Channel of the
Public Television of Armenia, which not only neglected the President's
Decree on State of Emergency, but also made an infringement of the
requirement of Article 28 of the RA Law "On Television and Radio",
prohibiting the prevalence of a political stance in the programs broadcast
on public television." The National Commission on Television and Radio,
which, in accordance to the Law, is the independent regulator and is to
implement the control over the activities of the broadcasters, Armen
Harutiunian's report stresses, failed to perform one of its main functions
and did not prevent the violations of the Decree provisions not only by the
PTA First Channel, but also most of the private broadcasters. At the same
time, the ombudsman says, in the second half of 2008 "some positive changes
and elements of pluralistic news coverage were observed in the activities of
the PTA First Channel".
The annual report of the Human Rights Defender touches upon the situation on
the "GALA" TV company of Gyumri. In particular, in the opinion of the
ombudsman, "it raises doubts the circumstance", that the tax violations made
by the founder of the TV company and other problems were revealed "only
after "GALA" manifested a critical stance towards the authorities".
The ombudsman notes that in 2008, like in the previous years, cases of
impeding professional activities of journalists have been fixed.
Nevertheless, a great number of such incidents remained unpunished. The
Human Rights Defender statements, listed in the report appendix, concern the
attacks on journalists, in particular: on correspondent of "Haykakan
Zhamanak" daily, Lusine Barseghian, on August 11; on acting head of the
Armenian Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Hrach Melkumian, on
August 18; on Chairman of "Investigative Journalists" NGO Edik Baghdasarian
on November 17.
At the presentation of ombudsman report for 2008 Armen Harutiunian awarded
diplomas for contribution to development of tolerance and freedom of speech
to Anna Israelian, the observer of "Aravot" daily, and Larisa Alaverdian,
the First RA Human Rights Defender, now RA National Assembly deputy of
"Heritage" party.
When reprinting or using the information above, reference to the Yerevan
Press Club is required.
You are welcome to send any comment and feedback about the Newsletter to:
[email protected]
Subscription for the Newsletter is free. To subscribe or unsubscribe from
this mailing list, please send a message to: [email protected]
Editor of YPC Newsletter - Elina POGHOSBEKIAN
_____________________________________ _______
Yerevan Press Club
9B, Ghazar Parpetsi str.
0002, Yerevan, Armenia
Tel.: (+ 374 10) 53 00 67; 53 35 41; 53 76 62
Fax: (+374 10) 53 56 61
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: www.ypc.am